Never Let Go
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: As the residents of Ayakashi Kan have lunch together, Banri is hit by a car while in his raccoon form. How will his friends react? And will Karuta's stoic character finally break and allow her feelings to be revealed? BanrixKaruta, slight fluff.


**After writing my SoushixRirichiyo fic, I felt it only fair to give this adorable couple the love they deserve as well. This is much shorter than my previous IXBSS fic, but I tried my best! This one is a lot less serious than my last, and I wrote it in 30 minutes, so I hope you don't think it's dumb :X I'll admit it _is_ a tad rushed though; this idea literally came to me in a dream.**

**Please enjoy!  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Inu X Boku SS / Youko X Boku SS.**

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><p>Never Let Go<p>

Bright sunlight blessed the entire property of the Ayakashi Kan hotel, a warm breeze flowing through the air and rustling the leaves of the trees that grew on the rooftop garden.

Presently, six half-youkai residents, four of them being Secret Service members, were currently lounging outside in the fresh air, taking advantage of the beautiful day. Soushi was serving Ririchiyo her tea as Zange chatted on playfully at one table, while Karuta, Nobara and Renshou sat at the table next to the first, eating small snacks and assortments of foods.

"It is awfully nice weather today, isn't it, Ririchiyo-sama?" Soushi asked, gazing up at the clear, baby blue sky.

"Humph. Is the warm air supposed to make me feel better or something?" She snapped in her usual way.

"Why?" Her agent quickly became concerned. "Do you not feel well? Shall I fetch you some medicine?" He asked immediately.

"Ah, no. That's not what I-"

"Ah, Ririchiyo-sama!" Soushi dropped down onto one knee and grasped one of her hands with both of his. "I do not know what I would do with myself if you were to become unwell. I would know that I have failed as your Secret Service agent and would promptly proceed to punish myself appropriately."

"Like I said, I didn't mean-"

"If you were to become sick, I would take it upon myself to steal away the illness from you and then suffer it myself tenfold!"

"You're insane!"

Their little quarrel continued to go back and forth as Zange looked on amusedly, making faces and chuckling as he predicted what the other was about to say.

"Ooh, you may want to just quit here, Ririchiyo-chan. Sou-tan has a good line coming up!" He announced. Then he tilted his head backward to address the residents at the other table. "Ah Renshou-san be careful about that tea..." Just as the warning escaped his mouth, there was a slight splashing sound.

"Awwww." Renshou complained. "And it had just gotten to the right temperature too."

"You idiot." Nobara commented from his left side. Karuta looked down at the splattered, wasted tea from his right with a longing look in her eyes.

"Poor tea." She stated simply, before she returned to the crumpet she had been eating. Nobara's glasses gleamed dangerously as she focused in on her target, a small drop of drool running down her mouth as she watched Karuta like a panther stalking an unsuspecting rabbit. Nobara had been fond of Karuta long enough to notice the slight changes in her demeanor; her posture was slumped forward by the slightest millimeter, and the way she chewed her food was slower than usual, as though she was pondering something deeply.

"Hm?" Nobara tilted her head to one side. "Karuta-chan, what's the matter? I mean don't get me wrong, you look at _least _ten times cuter when you're slightly troubled like this. I mean the way your cheeks are slightly flushed and how you curl your fingers into your lap and-"

"Eh?" Ririchiyo looked up as the blonde woman continued her obsessive ranting. "Roromiya-san is everything okay?" She asked, peeking over at her friend.

Karuta finished her last mouthful and looked up at the four pairs of concerned eyes currently turned her way; all except Zange seemed concerned at hearing she was troubled. However, Zange's eye was not cold or disconcerted for her; in fact it was the complete opposite, sparking with mischief and interest as he saw a vision that obviously pleased him.

"Haaah? What's this? Karuta-chyan is there something bothering you, hmmm?" He wondered.

"Not really." She replied to his question. "I just thought Watanuki was supposed to be here with us."

The reactions of her friends to her comment were as follows: Ririchiyo's eyes widened in surprise before a tiny smile crossed her lips, Soushi gave a small chuckle, Renshou grinned, and Nobara growled threateningly; she did not like the idea of someone else taking away her precious Karuta-chan.

Zange cocked his head to the side, obviously intrigued at the vision he was seeing now. "Ah...oh my that doesn't look good...Ah! Poor Rascal!" He exclaimed, drawing the attention of the others. Karuta appeared to be hardly phased by the statement due to her constantly stoic expression, but in being very close friends with her, Ririchiyo noticed the ever so slight jerking motion as she turned her shoulders to face Zange, her lips parted as her eyes sparkled with an iota of concern.

"What's the matter?" Renshou asked.

"Ah it seems Watanuki went out for a walk before coming here." Zange replied loudly. "And something _terrible_ is about to happen!" He cried, throwing both his arms in the air suddenly, causing his audience to widen their eyes.

"T-Then shouldn't you go help him?" Ririchiyo demanded. "You're his Secret Service agent!"

"Ah, but it seems there is only one person who can save him now..." he trailed off dramatically, bowing his head as though Banri were dead.

"I have no idea what's happening." Nobara sighed. "Come on, Karuta-chan, don't worry about him. Just relax and eat your-" she was cut off as a distant sound reached all of their acute, half-youkai ears.

There was a loud beeping, presumably of a car horn, followed by the screeching of tires, and at last, utter silence.

All six of them were quiet as the possible scenarios began flashing through their minds. Then, moving as one, they all rushed to the edge of the roof and looked down from over the walls.

With their precise vision, they could make out the gray line of a road down below, not too far away from Ayakashi Kan. Karuta's bubblegum pink eyes searched along the length of the tar path until she finally found what she was looking for; a small, brown speck lying motionless in the center of the road.

Despair crashed over her so crushingly that she stopped breathing. On the inside, she was in sheer turmoil, while on the outside, the only symptoms she showed was the slight swaying of her shoulders.

"H-Hey, calm down!" Ririchiyo grasped her friend's arm to steady her. "This can't be as bad as we think."

"She's right." Nobara added as convincingly as she could manage.

"Let us go to him, quickly." Soushi suggested and the others all nodded.

Briefly, Karuta managed to glance back at Zange's face, but his jaw was set in a firm line, his lips in a frown, as though somehow, this went against the prediction he had seen.

As Zange and the two pairs of masters and agents headed for the building to get to the stairs, Ririchiyo was held back as she felt Karuta tug away from her grip.

"H-Hey!" The black-haired girl called out after her as Karuta turned toward the wall and stepped up onto it. "What do you think you're-"

"Watanuki..." Karuta mumbled, not even hearing her concerned friend's warning.

Without even transforming, the pink-haired girl pushed off and jumped into the air, sailing down the side of the massive building as shouts came from above her; surely, even despite her youkai strength, such a small, female body would not withstand the landing of such a jump unharmed. The wind whipped up at her face for a matter of seconds as Karuta braced herself for her rough landing.

She landed neatly, aside from how her stomach was rammed into her knee, which effectively knocked the breath from her body for a good minute. But despite this minor setback, the girl determinedly took off toward the direction of the street.

She winced as she reached the edge of the road, panting slightly as she fought herself for breath.

Then, her eyes rested upon the small brown bundle she knew all too well.

Watanuki lay in the middle of the road in his raccoon form, his fluffed-up tail curled awkwardly behind him and his tiny paws stretched out before him; skid marks from a careless car surrounded the scene.

"Watanuki." Karuta hated how her voice sounded monotone, almost unconcerned when she spoke his name; inside, her heart was twisted in horrible pain, her eyes wanting to overflow with tears her body would not allow to get past her eyelids.

She staggered over to the tiny body, and knelt down in the road beside him, tentatively reaching out with trembling hands to scoop up his limp form into her arms. "Watanuki..." she murmured again, looking down at his familiar face. She forced herself to stand, the pain in her stomach almost unbearable as she managed to stumble off the street before collapsing onto the grass beside it. "Watanuki?" She nudged him gently, but his head merely rolled limply to the side, a tiny trickle of blood between his closed eyes. "Watanuki...?" She found that all she could manage to do was repeat his name.

She felt unnaturally helpless and scared as she hugged her dear friend to her chest as though she would never let go. She wanted to cry out, scream, wail, make _some_ sort of noise to beg and plead someone for help, but she did not know how to.

Yet soon, her body began to remember how it was supposed to react in such a terrible situation and she bowed her head as a single tear escaped and fell into her lap. After that, another fell, landing on Watanuki's head, mixing with the small trickle of blood on his forehead.

Then, his transformation broke and he was in human form once more, Karuta's embrace widening to hold onto his shoulders and pull him close to her.

Watanuki's eyes remained closed, but after a few moments his conscious began to return to him. _Huh? What's happening? _He wondered. _I was out for a walk, going to meet up with the others for lunch when...that car grazed me! Damn it! Some people are just so inconsiderate! I can't believe it stunned me! I can't believe- ...huh?_ His enraged thoughts cut off as he felt a slight dampness on his cheek. _Is it raining?_ He wondered. Then, he heard a familiar, rhythmic sound beneath his ear. _What...?_

Then, his strong senses picked up the extremely familiar scent he had known since childhood; it smelt faintly of sweets and roses. At that instant, he realized just who was holding him in her arms, and who's frantic heartbeat he was presently listening to.

He cracked his blue eyes open a tiny bit as he felt another raindrop – or rather, teardrop – land on his face.

She was crying.

He had never seen her cry before in his entire life.

Past the beating of her heart, he could hear the soft sobs escaping her lips, her chocked breathing as she hugged him to her. She whimpered his name and suddenly, Banri was overcome with enough emotion to open his eyes fully.

"Ka...Karuta?" He mumbled, a little discombobulated. It appeared she had not heard him, or if she had, she did not believe it, for she only held him tighter, trying to suppress her hiccuping cries. "Karuta?" Banri raised his voice a little louder, and this time she heard him clearly.

Her beautiful, bubblegum pink eyes flew open as she heard his voice, and she gasped as her eyes made contact with his. He was taken aback at the pure distress on her face as two more tears fell loose. He had never seen her face alive with so much emotion, and felt horrible now that he knew he had struck such fear within her.

"Wa...tanuki..." she sniffed, trying to calm her breathing.

"Y...Yeah." He replied awkwardly with a lopsided smile.

Karuta was frozen with a mixture of fright, relief, and elation as she blinked at him.

Watanuki managed to get the feeling back in his previously-stunned limbs, raising his head and gently shifting his weight to sit up on his own. Karuta's arms fell down into her lap as she watched him; obviously she had never expected to see him move ever again.

"Watanuki...you...you're okay?" She asked quietly with a small quiver in her tone. Banri winced at listening to the pain in her voice, but he nodded to her question.

"Yeah. That car just stunned me a little." He replied, embarrassed. Then, he got a better look at her and asked, "Are _you _okay?"

The girl blinked in surprise at his question as she realized how disheveled and pathetic she must look. Quickly, she buried her face into her sleeve, trying to wipe her tears away; she had never had so many at once before in all her life.

"Mm." She nodded in reply.

Watanuki gave her a small smile as he reached forward and caught a single tear she had missed with his finger. "I'm glad."

Karuta had just began to smile when the others arrived at last, rushing up to the two childhood friends and stopping several yards away in shocked silence. Nobara was the first to speak up.

"You're both okay! Thank goodness!"

"I am glad to see you are both unharmed." Soushi added.

"Roromiya-san, are you alright from that jump?" Ririchiyo still seemed dumbfounded from her friend's reckless past actions.

"Woah! What the heck happened to you?" Renshou exclaimed.

"Rascaaal!" Zange sang. "Ahaha it was so hard to keep a serious face back there. You guys were all so hilarious with those concerned looks on your faces~!"

"What?" Ririchiyo shouted. "You _knew _he would be okay and you didn't tell us?"

"You jerk! Karuta-chan could have gotten hurt, too!" Nobara added angrily.

"Calm down, calm down!" Zange requested of the females. "No harm, no foul right?"

"But there _is _harm!" Ririchiyo retorted. "Watanuki is bleeding from the forehead and Roromiya-san looks like _she _was the one hit by the car!" She broke off in a small gasp as she realized that may not have been the best thing to say. She quickly looked over at the two, hoping she had not embarrassed either of them. But Banri merely grinned.

"Nothing a band-aid won't fix!" He informed them.

"I am fine." Karuta added. She received a few skeptical glances for her comment, but no one else pressed the matter.

"Well if that's the truth, the let's all get back and finish our lunch, huh?" Nobara suggested.

"I'm all up for that." Renshou agreed. "Too much action for such a nice day."

"Sorry for not telling you, Karuta-chyan! It was just _so_ much fun to watch!" Zange called over his shoulder as he headed after them, not sounding sorry at all.

"You gave me a good scare." Ririchiyo told them. "Come on then, and let's enjoy the rest of the day."

"I shall fetch you a band-aid and some disinfectant." Soushi informed Banri who nodded gratefully.

As Soushi and Ririchiyo turned away, Banri gathered his strength and got to his feet.

"Well, let's go." He offered Karuta his hand with a blush crossing his face.

Her cheeks were still flushed from her previous crying, but now Karuta smiled and slipped her palm into his. He pulled her up, but as she stood, she stumbled into him. Banri caught her quickly and steadied her. "You alright?" He asked.

"Yes." She replied softly.

"I'm glad." Gathering every shred of courage within his body, Banri took this chance to kiss her forehead.

The look of pure shock that proceeded to show on her face caused him to chuckle. "Come on. Let's get going."

Her only response now was a nod as she followed him holding hands, their fingers entwined tightly and securely, as though they would never let go.

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><p><strong>AN: I know it was rushed and I'm sorry! I just had to write it though! X3**

**Please review!**


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